Problem:
Dallas has had a reputation of zoning racism for as
long as the slavery emancipation acknowledgement of Juneteenth. You can see
this in Paul Quinn College’s map of “Poisoned by Zip Code” (2020). The Joppa
community and its surrounding neighbors are within approximately 2 miles of
several industrial plants and cites including Shingle Mountain. Marsha Jackson
is a voice and advocate who went unheard for several months, in regards to her extremely
close neighbor, the horrendous polluting illegal shingle recycling company and
their infamous Shingle Mountain.
Immediate issues
and what calls for action-oriented answers:
For two years, Marsha Jackson and about 100 of her neighbors
have had to breathe in the toxic air of the crushed shingles and watch from
their yard as the pile of shingles kept growing to reach the height of a
six-story building, approximately 60 feet tall and stretching more than a city
block (Washington Post, 2020). They eventually came to name this pile “Shingle
Mountain”.
This is an illegal shingle recycling company set up without
permits by the company called Blue Star Recycling. How this happened and went
unnoticed for so long, is what Ms. Jackson and many others are wondering. An
approach to this theory, is systematic racism. This is demonstrated
through an urban management process of zoning and redlining. It has
become abundantly clear through research and coded and detailed maps (like “Poisoned
by Zip Code”), that minority and high poverty communities are subject to
pollution through the proximity of waste facilities such as landfills, power
plants, etc.
Issues into
context with broader environmental justice and historical issues:
Environmental
racism has become
an awareness term used to describe the growing concern of not only climate
change first impact, but of the way the burden of our waste is unevenly distributed to most of our minority and high poverty communities. People of color from all
over this nation are the ones that suffer the most due to polluted water, land,
and air. This is shown from the poisoned water in Flint, Michigan to the
uranium mining in Navajo nation (World Economic Forum, 2020).
In
particular to this story in Dallas, the district where the Shingle Mountain has
affected its residents, it is the neighborhood of Joppa. Joppa was settled by a
population whom were formerly slaves (Washington Post, 2020). For years, it has
been used to locate many of the unwanted waste by the city, far away from white
communities. Again, clearly shown on the Paul Quinn College Map (2020). You
have the Austin Asphalt, Lane Plating Superfund, and C-N-T Redi Mix Concrete
Plant surrounding the community including our Shingle Mountain (Paul Quinn
College, 2020).
Deal with
problems from the perspective of an individual and recognize their situation:
It has been
over two years since Ms. Jackson has filed a complaint to the city of Dallas in
regards to Blue Star Recycling’s illegal operation. Numerous lawsuits which
included both the city of Dallas and the two responsible for Blue Star
Recylcing, Christopher Ganter and Cabe Chadick. After the court charged the two
to pay up and clean, Ganter and Chadick claimed bankruptcy leaving them able to
walk away from Shingle Mountain without really paying any consequences
(Washington Post, 2020). Once the city was able to negotiate and pay for the cleanup,
the community rejoiced. It took a trucking crew a month and a half to remove 150,000-ton
mound of recycled shingles (WFAA News, 2021).
Recognize the responsibilities and scope of those
with authority:
The blame
can be shifted to many who could’ve done something. There is the council man whose
district is where Shingle Mountain sits tall, Tennell Atkins. He states that
his district is large and difficult to police. There is the city of Dallas who
has allowed this illegal establishment to sit there for as long as it has. It
is a place or community that has been forsaken by both its district leaders and
the city of Dallas itself. No one is willing to accept responsibility for the
existence of Shingle Mountain.
Conduct and Inquiry:
Dallas has
been a long ongoing form of systemic racism. You can view the uneven distribution
of industrial cites throughout the city in comparison with neighborhoods where the majority are people of color and the predominantly white neighborhoods. On the Paul Quinn
College (2020) map, you can view how all the industrial cites are outside the
white neighborhoods. Most of the industrial cites are located near the Trinity
River and Joppa community which happens to be the neighborhoods where the
population majority are minorities.
During the
1960’s most of the southern population of Dallas moved north towards the
suburbs or park city enclaves such as Highland Park and University Park (Human
Geography, 2019). This left residents who couldn’t afford to relocate, in most
of the southern districts such as Joppa, abandoned and underdeveloped areas.
This is an
occurrence all over the nation. In Richmond, Va., there is a clear imprint of
how the city was redlined, and its continuing long-lasting affects today. You
can see this in just temperature itself where areas in Richmond that are cooler,
are the predominantly white wealthier neighborhoods that have more shaded trees and
green spaces, and are located far from industrial sites. You can see the
redlined districts that were established in the 1930’s. These areas are hotter
than normal during the summer because of their neighborhood industrial plant
and that there are hardly any trees and most of the housing is located on concrete. Most
of these neighborhoods are poor and consist of black and immigrant residents.
(New York Times, 2020)
The problem
starts local. The council members selected for these districts needs to speak
up more and fight for the safety and health of their communities. They are the liaison
of the district they represent.
Then, the city must take an initiative to hear out these districts and create committees to lead these projects. With small committees, you can single out and put a ton of focus on the issue or project on hand since each district will be a case by case depending on needs.
Zoning areas need to be reevaluated. The evaluations must include the distance to residential neighborhoods regardless of color or income status. Health risk factors must also be included in these evaluations both short and long term. Above all, it is really the cities that need to take charge
of what is going on in their own city.
Conclusions:
Environmental
racism does exist. It has come in many forms such as redlining. It has existed
and continues to exist, only now you hear it louder with every movement that
mobilizes such as Black Lives Matter. The more the public becomes aware of it,
the more something will have to be done about it. Marsha Jackson is not the
only unheard voice that is not being listened to. If you were to google environmental
racism alone, many issues will pop up all over the country that are going on right now. Dallas is not a
lone city in the injustice that takes place within the nation's environmental racism.
Beech, P. (2020). What is environmental racism? World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/what-is-environmental-racism-pollution-covid-systemic/
Fears, D. (2020, Nov. 16). Shingle
mountain: How a pile of toxic pollution was dumped on a community of color. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/11/16/environmental-racism-dallas-shingle-mountain/?arc404=true
Fernandez, D. (2021, Feb. 26).
Dallas neighbors gather to celebrate the removal of 'Shingle Mountain.' WFAA
News. https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dallas-texas-neighbors-gather-to-celebrate-the-removal-of-mound-of-recycled-material-shingle-mountain/287-d2bf6973-0419-4b88-89e5-fc85e3958fb9
Krupula, Katie. (2019). The Evolution of Uneven
Development in Dallas, Tx. Human Geography. Volume 12. (Number 3). https://hugeog.com/the-evolution-of-uneven-development-in-dallas-tx/
Palmer, B. (2020). Redlined Districts. [Digital Image].
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.html
Paul Quinn College. (2020). Poisoned by Zip Code. [Digital
Image] https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/11/16/environmental-racism-dallas-shingle-mountain/?arc404=true
Plumer, B., & Popovich, N. (2020, Aug. 24) How
Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering. New York
Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.html
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